How To Boost Your Vehicle's Fuel Mileage

4 March 2015
 Categories: , Blog


The fuel mileage of your car, also sometimes called fuel efficiency, refers to how well your car transforms its fuel into distance traveled. It is usually expressed by a miles-per-gallon figure, which allows you to roughly estimate the maximum range of your car. Improving the fuel mileage of your car can reduce how often you fill up your car, saving you money and reducing your impact on the environment. Thankfully, there is a wide range of things that you can do to improve your fuel mileage.

Check Your Tires: If your tires become damaged or lose pressure, they will not perform as well. As tires become deflated, they produce more friction with the road, slowing down your vehicle and causing it to expend more power to accelerate than it normally would. If you check your tires every month, you can prevent this from happening.

Remove Accessories: Things like roof or bike racks can slow down your car by increasing the wind resistance of your vehicle if they are mounted on top of your vehicle, or by increasing the weight if they are mounted on the rear. This means that your car will have to work harder to move, which means it will eat up gas at a quicker rate. Remove everything from your car that you don't need, and you'll boost your fuel mileage considerably.

Remove Cargo: On the same note, unnecessary things that are stored in your car can also negatively affect your fuel efficiency because of the added weight. Take everything out of your car that doesn't need to be in there, like boxes of books or other things that you've meant to move but just never got around to.

Cruise Control: When you are able to, turn on cruise control. This maintains a constant speed, instead of the variable one that results when you normally drive. Having a constant stream of fuel into the engine ensures that your engine is getting the maximum efficiency it can. Even if you can't use cruise control, try to avoid accelerating rapidly, as this wastes gas and ruins your efficiency.

Check the Air Filter: If you've noticed that your car is eating gas up at an abnormally fast rate, get your engine's air filter checked. Over time, the air filter will become clogged with dust and debris which can block air flow into the engine, which means that your engine will be working harder than it needs to in order to convert fuel into motion.


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